Pbuoyed by record fundraising year following year, the fintech industry is experiencing strong momentum globally and regionally. In Morocco, it must be recognized that despite the good intentions of the public authorities to develop the fintech ecosystem, it remains below expectations. As evidenced by the recent ranking of the 30 best fintech companies in the MENA region recently unveiled by Forbes Middle East.
In this ranking, Egypt and Saudi Arabia represent more than 46% of the list, with 8 and 6 fintech respectively. Bahrain, Iraq and Morocco are present with only one company.
It must be said that Morocco lags far behind other countries in the region. For the experts, this is largely due to the good level of banking in Morocco and the pronounced preference of users for cash. Changing payment habits is a sociological fact that takes time. Note that the last fundraising operated by a Moroccan fintech was carried out by Yalla Xash, in July 2022, with Maroc Numeric Fund II for an amount of 6 MDH.
The development of the fintech ecosystem in Morocco also remains dependent on the willingness of banks to share their expertise, know-how, customer data and approvals with start-ups with innovative projects. It should be remembered that fintechs have invested in niches where banks might not offer their services in an optimal way, but the latter are catching up and are now positioning themselves as fintechs serving the new uses of their customers.
HPS as a standard bearer
The only Moroccan company present on this list, HPS is also the oldest fintech since it was founded in 1995. Listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange, its market capitalization exceeds 435 million dollars.
The spearhead of its activity, its “PowerCARD” payment solution, is used by more than 450 institutions in more than 90 countries. In 2022, its profits crossed the 100 MDH threshold for the first time while it hopes to double or even triple its income by 2027.
Payment companies dominate the ranking. Of the 30 companies, three are primarily buy-it-now, pay-later platforms: Tabby, Tamara and valU. The former is valued at $660 million, while Saudi Arabia’s Tamara announced in March 2023 a $150 million credit facility with Goldman Sachs, to bring its equity and debt valuation to $366 million.
Egypt’s Fawry for Banking Technology and Electronic Payments topped the 2023 ranking. Its revenue grew 37.5% in 2022 to $75 million. As of March 21, 2023, its market value was $542 million.
Forbes’ list was compiled considering the amount of money executed through digital channels in 2022, number of app downloads and active users, geographic presence, year-on-year growth, innovation , impact, valuation and venture capital funding.
A Fintech Center to boost the offer
At the beginning of the current month, CDG Invest, the investment branch of the CDG Group, launched the “Fintech Center”, the Studio offer of its incubation and financing program 212Founders, dedicated to Moroccan entrepreneurs and start-ups operating in the financial services.
The Fintech Center has the triple ambition of boosting the fintech ecosystem in Morocco by playing a complementary role of facilitator (regulatory files, financial services partners), bringing out national champions and supporting their internationalization in similar markets, specifies the same source. .
This is a support system spread over 18 months, from ideation to the launch of the product, financed by a pre-seed investment ranging from 2 million dirhams to 7 million dirhams.
